


Changing Traditions

by Fangirlshrewt97



Category: The Old Guard (Movie 2020)
Genre: Andy has some Opinions about charity and giving to charities, Banned Together Bingo, Gen, Nile disagrees, Prompt: Critisizing the Ruling Party, Sparring, They discuss it over a sparring session
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2021-01-29
Updated: 2021-01-29
Packaged: 2021-03-15 04:07:09
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,806
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/29057937
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Fangirlshrewt97/pseuds/Fangirlshrewt97
Summary: Prompt: “I want an Old Guard fic where we get another look at Andy vs Nile’s take on their power in retaliation to how they “should” use it. Maybe Nile sees the good in trying to help with the government (like grassroots leftist stuff) but Andy has the stance that they’re all “the ruling class” and would abuse their powers. Maybe they meet in the middle?”
Relationships: Andy | Andromache of Scythia & Nile Freeman
Comments: 9
Kudos: 19





	Changing Traditions

**Author's Note:**

> Dear Reader,
> 
> Life has gotten so busy and I just have no motivation or energy to write, so I apologize if you are waiting for an update on the Nile's downtime series, I will try to get to it as soon as my exams get over by next week. 
> 
> If you like the story at all, please let me know though kudos and comments (which can include keyboard smashes, one word comments, or favorite lines!). All mistakes are mine, this is not beta-read.
> 
> Thanks to @Chancy_Lurking for the prompt, as always you are my biggest cheerleader! I hope this fits what you wanted!
> 
> Disclaimer: None of these characters belong to me, I am just borrowing them temporarily.
> 
> Enjoy,
> 
> Fangirlshrewt97

“Andy!”

Nile’s voice rang out across the field as the newly minted mortal brought her axe down from where she had been running through one of her practice sequences.

She clenched her jaw even as her lungs protested, her mortality still inconveniencing her in ways she would torturous. She had always been aware of her ability to die with the gift, but it had always worked fast to cover these smaller pains, and feeling them after six millenia was as new to her as immortality was proving to be for Nile.

“Yes kid?” Andy questioned as she stood up straight, axe loosely held in one hand, as Nile finally stopped a few feet ahead of her.

“Nicky and Joe just left.” Nile said.

Andy raised her eyebrow. “Are you...angry you couldn’t go with them?”

Nile huffed. “No I am not angry they left.”

“Kid, I don’t actually have all the time in the world anymore, what are you mad about?”

“I’m not mad!” Nile said, putting her hands on her hips. “Nicky told me they aren’t going to give any of the money from that job to charity.” 

Andy let her head fall back in a groan before tilting back upright.”Yes, and?”

Nile threw up her hands. “What do you mean and? I thought we were the good guys. And we helped people with all the extra money we have.”

“We do.”

“But you just said we don’t give to charity! There was this fantastic government program that is trying to open schools for kids, and Nicky just laughed in my face when I asked him about giving the money there!”

Andy sighed. “Nile, we don’t give to charity cause we don’t trust them.”

Nile gaped at her for a minute before shouting “What the fuck are you talking about?”

Andy growled, moving to toss the axe in the air, spinning it once before she launched into a simple pattern before taking up the sequence she had been in the middle of when Nile had first stormed over. A glance to her periphery showed that Nile had at least moved to sit next to the staff and towel she had brought with her. Well, at least being with them for three months had taught her that she needed to wait for Andy to come to her.

She brought the sequence to a close after five minutes, muscles relaxing more naturally. She walked over to Nile, dropping the axe carefully on the ground before catching the water bottle Nile tossed her. She panted lightly after she finished gulping down half the bottle, squatting down and counting down till her heart rate was normal. When she cracked open her eyes, Nile was looking at her with a very unimpressed expression on her face.

Andy chuckled. Oh how quickly the awe fades from the young. 

“Come on, get up.”

“Why?” Nile said, trying hard not to pout.

Andy grinned at her. “I want a rematch.”

“A rematch?” Nile asked incredulously.

“For our fight in Andrei’s plane.” Andy extended her hand.

“Andrei- the drug runner? Are you serious?” Nile asked, even as she took Andy’s arm to rise up.

“It’ll be fun.” Andy said.

“You had me beat in 3 minutes flat.” Nile stated, voice even. “I know I’ve been training with you guys since I joined up, but I hardly think that’ll put us on even ground.”

Andy tilted her head as she walked backwards, stretching her arms out. “Only one way to find out if Joe and Nicky have been teaching you properly.”

Nile squinted at her, but Andy could see the spark of challenge in her eye, making the older woman smirk internally. This was going to be fun regardless of how it ended.

Andy spun her head once to work out the kinks before getting into a fighting stance. Nile matched her. They circled each other, before Nile lost her patience and threw the first punch. Andy deflected, but grabbed her wrist and pulled, using Nile’s imbalance to send her crashing into the grass.

Nile growled as she got up, shaking out her arm before getting back into her stance, bouncing on her toes.

“You do realize I am not actually going to let you distract me with this right?”

Andy smirked. “I would never think of doing such a thing.”

Nile grinned. “Bullshit.”

Andy aimed a kick for her head that Nile blocked, using the opening for two quick jabs to Andy’s exposed side before jumping away.

They circled each other for a moment and then Andy stepped closer, bringing her left arm for a close cut, but then feigned right at the last minute, making Nile grunt at the hit to her arm.

“So. Why don’t you give to charity?”

“I don’t trust them.”

“Don’t trust them?” Nile asked incredulously as she ducked a kick and aimed a punch to Andy’s stomach. The older woman grabbed her wrist and twisted it, forcing a yell from Nile. Andy pressed her advantage, pinning the arm to Nile’s back and pushing her to the ground. Nile kicked out, throwing Andy out of balance for long enough to twist out of her grasp. She swiped her legs low, sending Andy crashing to the ground.

“Yes!” Nile exclaimed as she straddled Andy, pinning the woman to the ground with her weight as she grabbed both her hands in a tight hold.

“Very good.” Andy said, pride filling her voice.

Nile beamed, warmth flooding her enough. The feeling distracted her enough not to catch Andy moving until she had managed to flip them. Nile let out a harsh gasp as her back suddenly met the ground, and found herself entirely immobilized.

“Still a ways to go though.”

“Fuck.” Nile exhaled as her head thunked backwards.

Andy laughed, patting her twice on the cheek before getting up. She offered her hand again, making Nile rolled her eyes at, but took with a wry smile.

“Now it really is like our first fight.”

“Hey, you lasted 10 minutes this time. The boys must have taught you something right.” Andy consoled her, bumping her shoulder.

Nile huffed, bringing her hand up to cup her neck as she rolled her head. “Yeah.”

Andy looked at her for a minute longer before shaking her head slightly. “Come on.”

Nile looked at her questioningly but followed the woman as they packed up. Nile grabbed the axe’s case while Andy threw the rest of the things into a small bag. They started to make their way back to their safe house.

“I have lived for a long time Nile.” Andy said after a few minutes of silence.

Nile shot her a deadpan look. “Really? I am shocked.”

Andy gave her a light shove. “I’ve been around to see so many civilizations rise and fall. So I’d like to think I understand something about people.”

“Okay?” Nile prompted.

“One thing that always happens, especially since money became a thing people tied to power? Greed knows no bounds. The ruling party is always only driven by greed over power, over accumulating as much of it as possible. There are always these people who say they want to help, but it always has its limits. Comes with terms and loopholes and exceptions, always at the cost of the very people they are supposed to help.” Andy unclenched her hand from bag, taking a centering breath. “The reason why I don’t trust charities is because I don’t trust the people who run them. We have read of so many where they spoke of amazing causes, and it turned out the people in power were pocketing the money.”

“But that is not for all of them!” Nile protested.

Andy shrugged. “It is for enough of them.”

Nile opened her mouth but then closed it. They covered another half mile before she spoke up again.

“So what are Nicky and Joe doing with that money if they aren’t giving it to charity?”

“They are going to a few homeless shelters.”

Nile’s brows furrowed. “But you just said.”

“They aren’t giving the money to the shelters. They are giving them to the people.”

“The …people?”

Andy nodded. “You’ve heard the expression give a man a fish and he eats for a day, teach a man to fish, and he eats for a lifetime?”

“I don’t think that’s exactly how that expression goes. And I don’t see what it has to do with this.” Nile said. 

“You are right, if we gave to reputable charities where they do actually help the people as they claim, we can do a lot of good. But when we give the money directly to the people, they can decide how they can spend it best.”

“You don’t help as many though.” Nile pointed out. “And how do you know the people won’t misuse the money?”

“You can’t guarantee that the charities will help more or that they won’t misuse the money either.” Andy countered. “Besides, we don’t give the money only to homeless people, those are surprising a relatively new phenomena at the magnitude it currently exists in. Before we used to give it to the people who let us crash in their barns or hid us during some war. Or to the families who were close to starvation despite working till they bled. Giving to charities means that everyone gets a little bit of that cash as the place sees it fit to spend. Giving it to the person directly lets them decide how they can best use it.”

Andy paused, grunting when Nile bumped into her. The younger immortal had a thoughtful expression on her face.

“I see your point, and I hear your argument. But I still think we can do a lot of good by giving to the right charity.” Nile said.

Andy looked at her, chewing her lip absentmindedly before nodding once. “Alright, next job we have a big payout for, you decide how we give away the money.”

Nile blinked, expression stunned. “Seriously? Just like that?”

Andy shrugged again. “This isn’t a dictatorship Nile. I may lead on the jobs but that’s just cause none of the boys particularly like being the lead strategist and trust my choices. You are not like that. Besides, the money was collected by all of us, so we should all get a say on how to spend it. We will try it your way, and if we don’t like the results, then you have to accept ours.”

Nile pursed for her mouth, face tense as she debated with herself before he held out her hand. “Deal.”

Andy snorted before taking her hand and shaking it. “Deal.”

Then she used the arm to tug Nile closer, rubbing the top of her head even as Nile yelped and giggled.

“You are going to fit right in kid.”

**Author's Note:**

> If you want to chat, you can find me at fangirlshrewt97.tumblr.com!


End file.
